Leslie Nielsen

Purchase Leslie Nielsen Products Here

Advertise Here

Actor:

The Waterman Movie (2011)(voice)

Stonerville (2010)

Spanish Movie (2009)

Stan Helsing (2009)

Slap Shot 3: The Junior League (2008)

Superhero Movie (2008)

"Robson Arms" (3 episodes, 2007)

Music Within (2007)

Scary Movie 4 (2006)

"Odd Job Jack" (1 episode, 2005)

The Nutcracker and the Mouseking (2004) (voice: English version)

"Chilly Beach" (1 episode, 2003)

Noël Noël (2003) (TV)

Scary Movie 3 (2003)

Men with Brooms (2002)

Kevin of the North (2001)

"Liocracy" (2001) TV series

Camouflage (2001)

Santa Who? (2000) (TV)

2001: A Space Travesty (2000)

"Pumper Pups" (2000) TV series (voice)

"Due South" (2 episodes, 1999)

Pirates: 3D Show (1999)

Wrongfully Accused (1998)

Safety Patrol (1998) (TV)

Mr. Magoo (1997)

Family Plan (1997)

National Geographic Video: The Savage Garden (1997)

Spy Hard (1996)

"Due South" (2 episodes, 1994-1996)

Harvey (1996) (TV)

Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree (1995) (TV)

Rent-a-Kid (1995) (TV)

Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)

"Evening Shade" (1 episode, 1994)

"Katie and Orbie" (1994) TV series (voice)

S.P.Q.R.: 2,000 and a Half Years Ago (1994)

Surf Ninjas (1993)

"Herman's Head" (1 episode, 1993)

Digger (1993)

"The Golden Girls" (2 episodes, 1992)

Chance of a Lifetime (1991) (TV)

"Flesh 'n' Blood" (1 episode, 1991)

All I Want for Christmas (1991)

The Naked Gun 2 1/2 (1991)

Repossessed (1990)

"Day by Day" (1 episode, 1988)

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

"Who's the Boss?" (2 episodes, 1987-1988)

The Railway Dragon (1988) (TV) (voice)

Dangerous Curves (1988)

Home Is Where the Hart Is (1987)

"Father Dowling Mysteries" (1 episode, - Fatal Confession (1987)

Fatal Confession: A Father Dowling Mystery (1987) (TV)

Nuts (1987)

Nightstick (1987) (TV)

"Highway to Heaven" (1 episode, 1987)

"Race for the Bomb" (1987) TV mini-series

Murder, She Wrote (2 episodes, 1985-1986)

Soul Man (1986)

The Patriot (1986)

"227" (1 episode, 1985)

Striker's Mountain (1985) (TV)

The Ray Bradbury Theater (1 episode, 1985)

Blade in Hong Kong (1985) (TV)

"Finder of Lost Loves" (1 episode, 1985)

"Hotel" (1 episode, 1985)

Reckless Disregard (1985) (TV)

Murder Among Friends (1985) (TV)

"Shaping Up" (5 episodes, 1984)

The Creature Wasn't Nice (1983)

Cave In! (1983) (TV)

The Night the Bridge Fell Down (1983) (TV)

"Police Squad!" (6 episodes, 1982)

Creepshow (1982) (segment "Something To Tide You Over")

Wrong Is Right (1982)

Twilight Theater (1982) (TV)

Foxfire Light (1982)

"Aloha Paradise" (1 episode, 1981)

A Choice of Two (1981)

Prom Night (1980)

Airplane! (1980)

"The Littlest Hobo" (1 episode, 1980)

"The Chisholms" (1 episode, 1980)

"Fantasy Island" (3 episodes, 1978-1980)

OHMS (1980) (TV)

City on Fire (1979)

Riel (1979) (TV)

"The Love Boat" (3 episodes, 1977-1979)

"Vega$" (1 episode, 1979)

"Backstairs at the White House" (3 episodes, 1979)

Institute for Revenge (1979) (TV)

The Albertans (1979) (TV)

Little Mo (1978) (TV)

"What Really Happened to the Class of '65?" (1 episode, 1978)

The Amsterdam Kill (1977)

"Lucan" (1 episode, 1977)

The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) (uncredited)

Viva Knievel! (1977)

Day of the Animals (1977)

Sixth and Main (1977)

Project: Kill (1976)

Brinks: The Great Robbery (1976) (TV)

"S.W.A.T." (3 episodes, 1975-1976)

Grand Jury (1976)

"Swiss Family Robinson" (1 episode, 1975)

"Columbo" (2 episodes, 1971-1975)

"Cannon" (3 episodes, 1973-1975)

"Kung Fu" (4 episodes, 1975)

"Lucas Tanner" (1 episode, 1975)

"The Rookies" (1 episode, 1975)

"Kojak" (1 episode, 1974)

Ironside (1 episode, 1974)

"The Manhunter" (1 episode, 1974)

Hawaii Five-O (3 episodes, 1968-1974)

"The Streets of San Francisco" (3 episodes, 1973-1974)

"The Evil Touch" (2 episodes, 1973-1974

Can Ellen Be Saved? (1974) (TV)

"Barnaby Jones" (1 episode, 1973)

"The F.B.I." (2 episodes, 1965-1973)

The Return of Charlie Chan (1973) (TV)

Amanda Fallon (1973) (TV)

"The Bold Ones: The New Doctors" (1 episode, 1973)

The Letters (1973) (TV) (The Parkingtons Episode)

Snatched (1973) (TV)

M*A*S*H (1 episode, 1973)

...And Millions Die! (1973) (TV)

The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

"Assignment Vienna" (1 episode, 1972)

"The Mod Squad" (1 episode, 1972)

"Norman Corwin Presents" (2 episodes, 1972)

They Call It Murder (1971) (TV)

"Medical Center" (1 episode, 1971)

"Bearcats!" (1 episode, 1971)

The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (1971)

"Sarge" (1 episode, 1971)

"Night Gallery" (2 episodes, 1971)

"Monty Nash" (1 episode, 1971)

Incident in San Francisco (1971) (TV)

"Bracken's World" (15 episodes, 1970)

The Red Skelton Hour (1 episode, 1970)

Hauser's Memory (1970) (TV)

The Aquarians (1970) (TV)

Night Slaves (1970) (TV)

"The Name of the Game" (1 episode, 1970)

"The Bold Ones: The Protectors" (7 episodes, 1969-1970)

Four Rode Out (1970)

Change of Mind (1969)

"The Virginian" (5 episodes, 1964-1969)

How to Commit Marriage (1969)

"The Big Valley" (1 episode, 1969)

Trial Run (1969) (TV)

Gunsmoke (1 episode, 1969)

Companions in Nightmare (1968) (TV)

Dayton's Devils (1968)

Shadow Over Elveron (1968) (TV)

"The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (2 episodes, 1968)

"It Takes a Thief" (1 episode, 1968)

"Cimarron Strip" (1 episode, 1967)

Rosie! (1967)

Cabot ShawCounterpoint (1967)

"Judd for the Defense" (1 episode, 1967)

The Reluctant Astronaut (1967)

"Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" (9 episodes, 1959-1967)

Gunfight in Abilene (1967)

Bonanza (1 episode, 1967)

"Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" (4 episodes, 1966-1967)

Code Name: Heraclitus (1967) (TV)

Beau Geste (1966)

The Plainsman (1966)

"Run for Your Life" (1 episode, 1966)

"The Farmer's Daughter" (1 episode, 1966)

"Dr. Kildare" (9 episodes, 1965)

"The Wild Wild West" (1 episode, 1965)

"Convoy" (1 episode, 1965)

"The Loner" (1 episode, 1965)

"Ben Casey" (2 episodes, 1963-1965)

"Peyton Place" (18 episodes, 1965)

Dark Intruder (1965)

Harlow (1965)

"Kraft Suspense Theatre" (2 episodes, 1963-1965)

"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (1 episode, 1965)

"The Defenders" (2 episodes, 1964-1965)

"Daniel Boone" (1 episode, 1964)

"Wagon Train" (2 episodes, 1960-1964)

"The Fugitive" (2 episodes, 1963-1964)

See How They Run (1964) (TV)

Night Train to Paris (1964)

"The Doctors and the Nurses" (1 episode, 1964)

"The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" (1 episode, 1964)

"Channing" (1 episode, 1963)

"Route 66" (2 episodes, 1960-1962)

"The New Breed" (34 episodes, 1961-1962)

"Playdate" (1 episode, 1962)

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (2 episodes, 1958-1961)

"The Islanders" (1 episode, 1961)

"Naked City" (1 episode, 1960)

"G.E. True Theater" (2 episodes, 1959-1960)

"Thriller" (1 episode, 1960)

"Moment of Fear" (1 episode, 1960)

"The Untouchables" (1 episode, 1960)

"Goodyear Theatre" (1 episode, 1959)

"Rawhide" (1 episode, 1959)

"Playhouse 90" (2 episodes, 1958-1959)

"First Performance" (1 episode, 1958)

The Sheepman (1958)

Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)

Hot Summer Night (1957)

The Opposite Sex (1956)

The Vagabond King (1956)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Ransom! (1956)

"Robert Montgomery Presents" (4 episodes, 1950-1954)

"Studio One in Hollywood" (13 episodes, 1949-1954)

"Justice" (1 episode, 1954)

"Danger" (4 episodes, 1952-1954)

"Love Story" (1 episode, 1954)

"The Man Behind the Badge" (2 episodes, 1954)

"Kraft Theatre" (6 episodes, 1950-1954)

"Medallion Theatre" (1 episode, 1953)

"Armstrong Circle Theatre" (7 episodes, 1951-1953)

"The Web" (5 episodes, 1950-1953)

"Hallmark Hall of Fame" (1 episode, 1953)

"Tales of Tomorrow" (6 episodes, 1952-1953)

"Suspense" (6 episodes, 1950-1953)

"Goodyear Playhouse" (3 episodes, 1951-1953)

"Short Short Dramas" (1 episode, 1952)

"Lights Out" (4 episodes, 1950-1952)

"CBS Television Workshop" (1 episode, 1952)

"The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse" (2 episodes, 1950-1951)

"Out There" (1 episode, 1951)

"Starlight Theatre" (1 episode, 1951)

"Sure As Fate" (1 episode, 1951)

"The Magnavox Theatre" (1 episode, 1950)

"The Clock" (2 episodes, 1950)

"The Trap" (1 episode, 1950)

"Stage 13" (1 episode, 1950)

"Actor's Studio" (2 episodes, 1950)

Producer:

The Naked Truth (2009) (executive producer)

The Force (2009) (TV) (associate producer)

2001: A Space Travesty (2000) (executive producer)

Leslie Nielsen's Stupid Little Golf Video (1997) (executive producer)

Spy Hard (1996) (executive producer)

Writer:

The Naked Truth (2009) (book)

Appearances

"Buenafuente" (1 episode, 2009)

The Naked Truth (2009)

The Force (2009) (TV)

Big Fat Important Movie (2008)

Today (2 episodes, 1969-2008)

Entertainment Tonight (1 episode, 2008)

"Doctor*ology" (13 episodes, 2007)

The World's Greatest Comedy Characters (2007) (TV)

Lipshitz Saves the World (2007) (TV)

Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet (2006)

"America's Top Sleuths" (2006) TV mini-series

"Gameshow Marathon" (4 episodes, 2006)

The 50 Greatest Comedy Films (2006) (TV)

The Alberta 100: A Centennial Countdown (2005) (TV)

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes: America's Greatest Quips, Comebacks and Catchphrases (2005) (TV)

"Tubridy Tonight" (1 episode, 2005)

The Comedians' Comedian (2005) (TV)

The Best of 'So Graham Norton' (2004)

The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (1 episode, 2004)

"On the Record with Bob Costas" (1 episode, 2004)

Making 'Scary Movie 3' (2004)

The Joke's on Us: 50 Years of CBC Satire (2002) (TV) (Narrator)

Biography (1 episode, 2000)

The Orange British Academy Film Awards (2000) (TV)

"So Graham Norton" (1 episode, 2000)

"Life and Times" (1 episode, 2000)

"N.Y.U.K" (2000) TV series

The Rosie O'Donnell Show (2 episodes, 1997-1999)

Leslie Nielsen on the Stooges (1999) (TV)

The Fine Art of Separating People from Their Money (1998) (TV)

Dinosaur Park (1998) Narrator

Leslie Nielsen's Stupid Little Golf Video (1997)

"Mundo VIP" (1 episode, 1996)

Ghost Whales of Lancaster Sound (1996) (TV) Narrator

The 22nd Annual People's Choice Awards 1996 (TV)

"Showbiz Today" (4 episodes, 1991-1995)

The World's Funniest Commercials (1994) (TV)

Cybermania '94: Ultimate Gamers Awards (1994) (TV)

"The Danny Baker Show" (1 episode, 1994)

Summerslam (1994) (TV)

Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects (1994) (TV)

Bob Hope's Birthday Memories (1994) (TV)

Circus of the Stars Goes to Disneyland (1994) (TV) (Ringmaster)

Bad Golf My Way (1994)

Leslie Nielsen's Bad Golf Made Easier (1993)

The Unknown Marx Brothers (1993) (TV) (voice)

"Friday Night" (1 episode, 1992)

Circus of the Stars #16 (1991) (TV) (Ringmaster)

Wogan (4 episodes, 1989-1991)

Live with Regis (1 episode, 1990)

Circus of the Stars #14 (1989) (TV) (Ringmaster)

Back to the Future Part II Behind-the-Scenes Special Presentation (1989) (TV)

Saturday Night Live (1 episode, 1989)

"The Arsenio Hall Show" (1 episode, 1989)

The 3rd Annual American Comedy Awards (1989) (TV)

"D.C. Follies" (1 episode, 1988)

"The New Hollywood Squares" (1 episode, 1988)

"Doris Day's Best Friends" (1 episode, 1986)

The Homefront (1985) Narrator

The Canadian Conspiracy (1985) (TV)

Prime Times (1983) (TV)

All-Star Birthday Party at Annapolis (1982) (TV)

Hee Haw (1 episode, 1982)

"Blue Frontier" (1980) TV series Narrator (1980)

"The Alan Thicke Show" (2 episodes, 1980)

"Al Oeming: Man of the North" (1980) TV mini-series

"The Alan Hamel Show" (4 episodes, 1977-1979)

"The Cross-Wits" (1 episode, 1977)

"Match Game 73" (1 episode, 1977)

Threshold: The Blue Angels Experience (1975) Narrator

"Celebrity Bowling" (2 episodes, 1975)

"Beat the Clock" (1 episode, 1975)

"Showoffs" (1 episode, 1975)

"Celebrity Sweepstakes" (4 episodes, 1974-1975)

"Don Adams' Screen Test" (1 episode, 1975)

"National Geographic Specials" Narrator (9 episodes, 1971-1974)

Strange Creatures of the Night (1973) (TV) Narrator

Journey to the Outer Limits (1973) (voice)

"The Explorers" Narrator (22 episodes, 1972-1973)

The Return of the Movie Movie (1972) (uncredited)

"The Movie Game" (2 episodes, 1971)

"The Art Linkletter Show" (1 episode, 1970)

"Your First Impression" (1 episode, 1964)

The Battle of Gettysburg (1955) Narrator

ACTRA Awards

2003 Won ACTRA Award of Excellence

Canadian Comedy Awards

2003 Nominated Canadian Comedy Award Film - Pretty Funny Male Performance for: Men with Brooms (2002)

Emmy Awards

1989 Nominated Emmy Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for: "Day by Day" (1988) For playing "Jack Harper". For episode "Harper And Son".

1982 Nominated Emmy Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for: "Police Squad!" (1982)

Gemini Awards

2007 Nominated Gemini Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role Dramatic Series for: "Robson Arms" (2005) For episode "Ordinary Assholes".

1996 Nominated Gemini Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role in a Dramatic Series for: "Due South" (1994)

MTV Movie Awards

1992 Nominated MTV Movie Award Best Kiss for: The Naked Gun 2 1/2 (1991) Shared with: Priscilla Presley

Marco Island Film Festival

2004 Won Lifetime Achievement Award

Peñíscola Comedy Film Festival

2008 Won Costa de Azahar Award

ShoWest Convention, USA

[ View All Photos ]

In his autobiography, The Naked Truth, Leslie Nielsen seems to thoroughly enjoy turning his entire life into another zany episode of his now truly legendary Naked Gun series. Telling fact from comic invention gets to be easy with a well-trained, highly attuned sense for these things. For instance, one suspects one is having one's leg pulled when he says, "We lived in an unheated log cabin not far from the Arctic Circle." And what are we to make of his claim that he and his brother played all the normal childhood games like "Cowboys and Eskimos"? According to Nielsen, his father told him the Facts of Life he would need to become a man:

“Never run holding a sharp pencil. Never piss into the wind. And you can never have too much starting pitching.”

But it can be confirmed that he spent some early years in what was then Fort Norman in the Northwest Territories (now Tulita "where the rivers meet," population 473), which is not all that far from the Arctic Circle; that his father was a real, live Mountie and that he did have a brother, Eric, eventually the Honorable Member for Yukon, once Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and known on Parliament Hill as old Velcro Lips for his powers of discretion, which clearly passed his sibling by completely.

Leslie enlisted in the Canadian Air Force in what he called "The Deuce," i.e., World War II, at the age of 17. He came home to unemployment and found a job in radio. Next he enrolled in the Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts. Greene, an Ottawa native is described elsewhere in this volume as a Legend in his own right who emerged from his war years as a newsreader on CBC radio with the nickname "The Voice of Doom."

From there Nielsen went to New York for serious training in two of the most renowned acting schools in the world: The Neighborhood Playhouse and The Actors' Studio. Intense work on method acting, mime, even dance with the great Martha Graham, were all to build on his "leading-man" looks. He set his sights on a serious acting career. Though according to The Naked Truth one of the best of his early roles was as Richard III in a kosher Manhattan deli. With those impressive credentials on his resume, he soon forged an extremely prolific career, first in the great series of TV's so-called Golden Age: Dr Kildare, The Wild, Wild West, M*A*S*H* and Bonanza (with his old mentor Lorne Greene), and eventually in film.

He was first noticed in the movies by the New York Times in the 1956 thriller Ransom, with Glenn Ford and Donna Reed (Mel Gibson did a much less effective remake in 1996): Leslie Nielsen is professionally outrageous as the newspaper reporter who practically takes command.”

In that same year, Nielsen starred in the sci-fi cult classic Forbidden Planet as the dashing Commander John J. Adams of United Planets cruiser C-57-D, on a mysterious rescue mission in the 23rd century to the planet Altair-4.

Now, granted, one usually needs to be a member of the cult to enjoy one of its classics, but it's not too much to say that Forbidden Planet is a groundbreaking artifact. It established science fiction as a legitimate film genre. And if you're into arguing about this sort of thing, you could argue it begat a film and TV lineage of decidedly mixed pedigree, from Lost in Space to Star Trek to Star Wars and maybe even 2001: A Space Odyssey depending on your stamina. It is fascinating to watch (once) not, alas, because of Nielsen's performance, but because of how much of it was, shall we say, borrowed for the cult series of all time, Star Trek. The creator of Forbidden Planet died two years before Star Trek went to air and Leslie Nielsen was the prototype for James T. Kirk, Captain of the Starship Enterprise.

Nielsen landed another starring role the very next year in Tammy and the Bachelor, featuring the impossibly adorable Debbie Reynolds and that wretchedly cloying theme song that makes you want to floss. The plot, such as it is, is so thin you could spit through it. But Nielsen is very engaging as the wealthy bachelor who crash lands his plane in the bayou, and is rescued by Tammy/Debbie, the poor southern belle who nurses him back to health and sends him on his way back to his mansion where we find another Canadian Legend, Fay Wray, in one of her last film roles. When Tammy's Daddy, played by the also adorable Walter Brennan gets nabbed for brewin' up a lithe corn whiskey, she seeks out her flyboy for help. It was a nice part, played well and handsomely by our erstwhile leading man, but it wasn't exactly Oscar material.

It would be easy here to fast-forward to his later success and virtual franchise status in the sometimes inspired silliness of his later comedies. Recount the memorably insane punch lines and all that. After almost 25 years in the business, at age 54, this kind of material didn't seem to promise Great Things. Might have been a time to think about packing it in. But in 1980, his career was rescued, re-launched and resurrected with a goofy role in the classic comedy Airplane!, an early creation of the unstable and astute minds of David and Jerry Zucker with Jim Abrahams. It was a hysterically funny send-up of the disaster movies that sprang up like topsy in the 1970s, in the air, on the ground and at sea respectively: Airport, The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure. (Actually Nielsen had been the captain of the doomed ship Poseidon in the film.)

The production team loaded up on TV Golden Age talent: Robert Stack and Lloyd Bridges were cast as the hopeless emergency management types. Nielsen played the vaguely competent Dr. Rumack with a comic tour de force that no one knew he was capable of until then. He discovers the reason almost everyone on the plane is falling deathly ill, including the flight crew Janet Maslin in the Times approved of the lowbrow humor and Nielsen's proficiency,

“Airplane! is more than a pleasant surprise, in the midst of this dim movie season. As a remedy for the bloated self-importance of too many other current efforts, it's just what the doctor ordered . . . Mr. Nielsen, who does a delightful job as the doctor on board, tells Striker, "Good luck, we're all counting on you," so many times that he's still saying it after the plane is down.”

This is nice for Nielsen but misses the best line in the film entirely, also Nielsen's.

Dr Rumack: “You'd better tell the captain we've got to land as soon as we can. We've got to get this woman to a hospital”.
Flight Attendant: “A hospital? What is it, Doctor?”
Dr Rumack: “It's a large, brick building where they keep sick people. But that's not important now.”

To this day, people will answer the challenge "Surely you're not serious" with "I AM serious. And don't call me Shirley." And so a legend, career and fortune were born. The movie was made for an estimated US$3.5 million and grossed US$83 million plus another US$40 million in rentals. It was the movie mother lode. The lucrative Zucker-Abrahams-Nielsen connection would continue for 25 years in one combination or another. Lucrative seems an understatement - this was more like a license to print money.

Police Squad ran for just seven episodes on ABC in 1982. But when it became The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad, a feature in 1988, Nielsen reprised his immensely successful take on the Inspector Clouseau, Maxwell Smart type of bumbling detective, the now immortal Frank Drebin. There was more highbrow praise for the lowbrow masters. Vincent Canby said in the Times:

“The summer is saved. Lieut. Frank Drebin is back and Leslie Nielsen is again playing him in David Zucker’s delirious new comedy, The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, solemnly described as “more than a sequel.”

The trilogy (Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult) grossed about a quarter of a billion dollars in US theatrical release alone. Naked Gun 2 1/2 is widely regarded as the funniest of the trilogy, with Drebin saving the free world from a cartel of bad guys nicely led by fellow Canuck Robert Goulet, who also has taken over Drebin's usual girlfriend played by Priscilla Presley. The opening sequence takes place at a White House luncheon honoring Drebin for killing his l,000th drug dealer. With amazing lookalikes for the President and First Lady, the oblivious, deadpan Drebin repeatedly and accidentally knocks the stuffing out of the ersatz Barbara Bush, opening doors in her face and repeatedly beating her with lobster parts. It doesn't matter if you're Republican, Democrat, Marijuana Party or a PhD in Russian Literature, you cannot, try as you might, stop laughing at each new sight gag. Then he makes his speech and admits that for the 1,000th, he just backed his car over someone who just happened to be a drug dealer.

The over-the-top-roles rolled in, in various cracked-out incarnations: Dick Steele, Agent WD 40 in Spy Hard, which Nielsen executive produced. With a budget around $18 million, it took in $98 million on its first weekend in 1996. It co-starred future Desperate Housewife Nicolette Sheridan. Then he played Colonel Chi in Surf Ninjas and Dracula for Mel Brooks in Dead: And Loving It.

When David Zucker needed a doofus as president of the US in his horror movie parody Scary Movie 3, he called his old pal Nielsen, by then something of an elder statesman of comedy, with a net worth approaching Exxon-Mobil. There is a notable scene in Scary Movie 4 when Nielsen spoofs the scene on 9/11 when President Bush was reading stories with schoolchildren. The New York Post applauded the scene:

“The movie scores a rare bull's-eye when the dimwitted president (who else but Leslie Nielsen?) literally has to be torn away from a children's story about an animal to cope with the national crisis”.

But they panned the movie with perhaps the greatest New York putdown ever written of the fourth installment of a movie series: "4GEDDABOUTIT!"

As a sideline, Nielsen has done books and videos about his obsession with golf ("They called it golf because all the other four-letter words were used up.") According to the Internet Movie Database, Nielsen has had 228 film and TV roles and counting. All that work. All the big roles in small films, the small roles in big films. It's the old Hollywood story It took him only thirty years or so to become an overnight success.

Do not call him Shirley

Doing nothing is very hard to do... you never know when you're finished.

The violence or the vaudeville style of comedy is a technique all by itself. You get up there, and you are a comedian, and you're doing one thing. That is, you're going to make the audience laugh.

The reason they call it 'golf' is that all the other 4 letter words were used up.

Nielsen is a fan of golf, and often plays it in his free time. In an interview he stated that "I don't play golf to feel bad, I play bad golf but I feel good."

Nielsen's interest in the sport led him to star in several comedic instructional films.

Nielsen has stated in several interviews that he has a few medical problems such as hearing impairment. Because of this impairment, he has publicly supported the Better Hearing Institute

[ View All Entries ]